The Resident Evil movie reboot is developing fast, with an exciting new name added to the cast. The video game adaptation comes from writer-director Zach Cregger, hot off the wild success of the horror movie Weapons. Cregger’s involvement in bringing Resident Evil back to the big screen was announced earlier this year, but the movie is developing quickly and is aiming for a fall 2026 release.
Following news that Cregger’s Weapons star Austin Abrams would appear in the movie, Deadline now reports that Paul Walter Hauser has been added to the cast. No character details have been released, and the plot is being kept under wraps. However, Resident Evil adapts the popular Capcom video game series, following survivors as they navigate the post-apocalyptic world inhabited by zombies and bioengineered monsters created by the nefarious Umbrella Corporation.
Hauser is one of the busiest actors in Hollywood right now, appearing in several high-profile projects in 2025. After appearing as Mole Man in the MCU’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Hauser starred alongside Liam Neeson in The Naked Gun and will next be seen in the buzzed-about music biopic, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.
Zach Cragger’s Resident Evil promises a much different adaptation
Along with creating a massive video game franchise that remains Capcom's most popular to date, Resident Evil has already spawned a long-running movie series. The first Resident Evil was released in 2002, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Milla Jovovich as the heroic Alice. Jovovich starred in all six movies in the franchise. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City attempted to reboot the franchise but was not received well by audiences or critics.
However, Zach Cregger’s involvement in the new Resident Evil reboot has certainly given fans a lot of hope for the franchise’s future. Cregger has cemented himself as one of the most exciting new filmmakers in Hollywood after the success of his horror movies Barbarian and Weapons. However, he has also made it clear that this will be a very different movie from the adaptations that came before.
Leon S. Kennedy was a prominent hero in the game and one that many fans have been waiting to see get a more prominent role in the movie franchise. However, Cregger revealed his Resident Evil movie would not deal with Leon or other popular characters from the game, reasoning that their stories have already been told. He reiterated that his movie will be its own story while still sticking to the canon established in the games.
While this might sound like a departure from what fans might anticipate for a Resident Evil movie, it also sounds like a wise move. Movies have always struggled with adapting video games directly, so Cregger’s approach of being faithful to the world of the game while telling a new story could deliver a truly great video game movie. With Cregger at the helm and an exciting cast assembling, there is reason to be confident in this new Resident Evil.